ASU Alumni Association introduces Spirit Squad club
"Pom Pon" girls at their first appearance of the 1955 football season. It later became the dance team, and in 2008, the separate dance and cheerleading groups merged to form the ASU Spirit Squad. A new alumni club aims to connect Spirit Squad alumni.
The ASU Alumni Association recently added a new alumni club to its chapter network: the Spirit Squad club.
The club’s president, Allyson Bingham '18 BS, danced with the Spirit Squad from 2014 to 2018 and served as the captain her senior year. Bingham explained that the mission of the club is to connect Spirit Squad alumni and cheer on the current squad.
“We all share the same love for cheering on the Sun Devils, so I thought it would be good to keep that connection to each other and our alma mater through an alumni club,” she said.
Arizona State University has a long history of dance and cheerleading groups. In 1939, the Pep Squad was founded, and according to University Archives, was “dedicated to arousing school spirit” at football games. Throughout the next few decades, separate cheerleading and "Pom Pon" (later called dance) groups were created.
As the ASU cheerleading and dance teams functioned separately, they held different roles. The dance team appeared at football games with the marching band and did not cheer on the sidelines like they do today. Cheerleaders could be found on the sidelines at the Sun Devil football and basketball games with the focus being competing against other university cheer squads.
In 2008, the cheer and dance teams were merged and today are known as the ASU Spirit Squad. The Spirit Squad includes a dance team and spirit leaders, and its goal is to promote spirit and support athletic programs. The teams work alongside each other to perform with the band and lead crowd cheers on the sidelines.
Bingham said that many Spirit Squad members who recently have graduated remain in contact, but they haven’t been as connected with previous alumni.
“I wanted to create an official alumni club to connect Spirit Squad alums of all ages,” she said.
Learn more about ASU’s Spirit Squad alumni club.
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The 1939 Pep Squad poses alongside the Arizona State mascot at the time, the Bulldog.
Photo courtesy 1939 yearbook
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Head cheerleaders Della Skousen and Maxine Stone, along with the rest of the 1940 Pep Squad.
Photo courtesy 1940 yearbook
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Rocky Maynes, Betty Hammer, Joe Iantorno, Jeannie Harris and Jack Barbee of the 1951 Cheer Squad.
Photo courtesy 1951 yearbook
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ASU varsity cheerleaders perform stunts on the sideline of a 1968 football game.
Photo courtesy 1968 yearbook
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A 1993 cheerleader is tossed in the air at Sun Devil Stadium.
Photo courtesy 1993 yearbook
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